Development of a Cobalt Electrode for the Determination of Phosphate in Soil Extracts and Comparison with Standard Methods

Ebuele, Victor O, Congrave, Daniel G, Gwenin, Chris D ORCID: 0000-0003-0363-8168 and Fitzsimmons-Thoss, Vera (2018) Development of a Cobalt Electrode for the Determination of Phosphate in Soil Extracts and Comparison with Standard Methods. ANALYTICAL LETTERS, 51 (6). pp. 834-848.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00032719.2017.1360899

Abstract

A phosphate-sensitive cobalt electrode was evaluated in detecting orthophosphate ions (H2PO-4) in ammonium lactate–acetic acid soil extracts. The dependence of the mixed potential of a cobalt electrode on H2PO-4 concentration was investigated through potentiometry. The mechanism of detection is based on the consumption of a surface cobalt (II) oxide layer to form (Co3(PO4)2), which leads to a concentration-dependent shift of the mixed potential. Two reference electrodes were evaluated: Ag/AgCl (3 M) KCl and a platinum (Pt) wire. A linear response was observed using both reference electrodes. However, application of a Pt wire quasireference electrode increased the linear dynamic response range of the detector from 10–103 mg L−1 or 10−4–10−1 M (Ag/AgCl (3 M) KCl) to 0.1–105 mg L−1 or 10−6–101 M. In addition, the response time using the Pt wire was less than 5 min compared to a minimum of 10 min using Ag/AgCl (3 M) KCl. There was close agreement between the response of the phosphate-sensitive cobalt electrode with a standard colorimetric method. As dissolved organic substances can potentially interfere with electrochemical techniques, an investigation into the use of a nonpolar resin for decolorization and removal of organic matter in soil extracts was performed and successfully used. The phosphate-sensitive cobalt electrode was found to be a fast method for the analysis of soil extracts with high sensitivity and selectivity. It has the potential to be developed into a sensor for the in situ measurement of phosphate in various environmental matrices.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Ammonium lactate-acetic acid extraction, cobalt electrode, phosphate determination, potentiometry, soil extract
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	02 Nov 2020 10:19
Last Modified:	18 Jan 2023 23:25
DOI:	10.1080/00032719.2017.1360899
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3105519